How does lowering the screen resolution effect a game?

To directly answer your question, I'm pretty sure its some sorta pixel count going vertically and horizontally across your screen.

Anyway, a lower resolution makes everything lookbigger, and will make things "pixelated", looking lower quaility. This can noticiblyincrease performance if your pc is struggling to run a program however. In general, you want the highest possible resolution that your pc can handle.

First, the basics: Screen resolution is the number of pixels (WxH) displayed by the monitor. More pixels = better image quality, but it also means more strain on the graphics card, which = lower performance. It also depends on the type of monitor you're using. If you're using a CRT, you can safely change resolution without any drop in image quality. LCDs, on the other hand, are designed to run at a recommended resolution, and any change from that setting -- higher or lower -- will actually result in degraded image quality. *This next part probably contains the type of information you're looking for.* I personally believe that even in 2007, 1,024x768 is a perfectly adequate resolution to run games at. It's high enough to eliminate serious pixelization, and leaves the GPU plenty of room to process higher-quality textures, lighting, and image filtering. In my opinion, it is preferable to run games with high quality at a moderate resolution than to run them with medium quality at high resolution. All those extra pixels just show off the fact that your textures aren't filtered worth a f***. :P However, if you can get good performance with high quality settings at higher resolutions, then, obviously, you should absolutely go for it (bearing in mind your monitor's refresh rate, of course).JN_Fenrir

All you need to know.

Does it have anything to do with size of your monitor, or does it have to do with the graphics? I have a 19" monitor (not Widescreen), just wondering what it will happen if I lower the screen resolution from 1280x800. Will it improve game performance, lower the visuals or what? Just wondering.chandlerr_360

First off, 1280x800 is a WIDESCREEN resolution. So if that's what your non-widescreen monitor is set at, then everything looks wrong to begin with. The numbers means the amount of pixels horizontally x pixels vertically. The highers the numbers, the better everything will look, but at the cost of performance. I personally have my non-widescreen monitor set at 1280x1024.

[QUOTE="chandlerr_360"]Does it have anything to do with size of your monitor, or does it have to do with the graphics? I have a 19" monitor (not Widescreen), just wondering what it will happen if I lower the screen resolution from 1280x800. Will it improve game performance, lower the visuals or what? Just wondering.Johnny_Rock

First off, 1280x800 is a WIDESCREEN resolution. So if that's what your non-widescreen monitor is set at, then everything looks wrong to begin with. The numbers means the amount of pixels horizontally x pixels vertically. The highers the numbers, the better everything will look, but at the cost of performance. I personally have my non-widescreen monitor set at 1280x1024.

Do you know that 1280x1024 is actually a tall screen resolution? It's common on most LCD monitors these days, but it isn't the standard resolution of a monitor. Here are a few standard resolutions you'd find on you're every day CRT monitor:

640x480
800x600
1024x768
1280x960
1600x1200

To the OP, if you post if you're monitor is CRT or LCD, and if it is LCD, can you post what the native resolution is (probably the resolution you're running at now), and I'll be able to give you more direct help.

lowering resolution increases performance(higher FPS)but decreases graphics (less detail,decreased sharpness).

Thenative resolution for a standard 19 inchmonitor (not widescreen) is 1280x1024,but some games use 1280x960.

Multiplying the 2 numbers gives you the number of pixels being displayed on the monitor.

Thenative resolution for a standard 19 inchmonitor (not widescreen) is 1280x1024,but some games use 1280x960.doktron

As I've already stated, no it's not. 1280x1024 is TALL screen, and not the regular size of a standard 19 inch monitor. Going by the standard ratio of 800x600, 1024x768, the next res is 1280x960. 1280x1024 is a current LCD monitor resolution, and a very popular one at that, but it is not the standard ratio.

Yes. It is 5:4 instead of 4:3. Games still look fine at that resolution though.nappy65_basic

Not always. I've got a 1280x1024 LCD Monitor, and Quake 3 doesn't have that resolution nor ratio, so the side of the screen gets cut off. Quite annoying actually. DOS games also don't work properly for obvious reasons.